Hunter's Dawn
by Yavarice
Summary: Unfortunantly I'm going to place this on long term stasis. I really don't feel like I have the right ideas or writing skills to pull off the kind of quality story Samus deserves. At least not right now.
1. Alpha

  
Author's note:  
  


This story is my personal thoughts on the background story to the Metroid games. Samus Aran, Ridley, Chozo and other names I probably missed are all property of Nintendo Co.  I will be deviating considerably from what the Nintendo power comics had detailed and may be common knowledge.  Just saying Chozo rescued Samus and gave her the powersuit so she could become the guardian of the galaxy just doesn't make enough sense to me.  How can the Chozo (as powerful as they seem) just thrust that responsibility upon the poor girl?  And wouldn't it make sense for her to work with the Federation if they do stand for order and peace in the galaxy?  Anyway this is my first attempt at a fanfic believe it or not, and I probably bit off more than I can chew, but I'm determined to make something of it.  Note this was started before Metroid Prime and so please excuse any continuity messups. All comments and criticism are accepted of course.  
  


Hunter's Dawn

            Dawn approached the sleepy Earth colony, slowly waking its inhabitants from a peaceful night's rest.  The small colony was established a few years ago on the planet Polaris IV, in a system on the outlying edges of the Galactic Federation.  Rolling plains and grasslands cover most of the surface, which is also dotted with small lakes and rivers.  A rather boring place, the planet boasts no significant resources, is far from the major galactic trading routes, and has no strategic importance in its location.  The hundred colonists, merely living out their lives and of their children's in a quiet lifestyle, farming the land for food and mining the hills for metals.  Such a place should garner no interests of anyone's.  In fact it didn't even rate high enough to have a proper name, only a simple alphanumeric designation of K-2L.  But that is not so.  Moreover, there are multiple parties who have taken interest in this uninteresting settlement.

"They are most fascinating, are they not?"  A tree overlooking the colony said, or rather that's what it would appear if someone were close enough to hear.  

"Oh truly mesmerizing," it answered itself in a lighter sarcastic voice, "how did we ever get assigned to this backwater hole in the first place?"  

A chuckle, "You complain about that, yet you are every bit engrossed in these people like an energy leech to an electro plasmic conduit."

"Only to keep you entertained my love."

The tree was actually an observation post of a Chozo couple, they had arrived with the original colonists and have been watching them ever since.  Sitting among the branches and using some nifty instruments, they would be able to watch and listen as the colonists go about their lives.  Sometimes they would don camouflage suits to get even closer and better observe the social behaviours of the people.

"Well keep an eye on the Olana family, their harvester got a fuel line knocked loose as Junos was bringing it back in last night.  I wonder who will get the blame."  Koolan speculated as he focused the macrobinoculars on that piece of machinery.  His mate, Zerana, answered, "Oh yes, his brother skipped the maintenance rounds the other day to meet that female friend of his in the town square."  

"The Daleen girl, do her parents know?"

"Not yet."

"Looks like there will be some major explanations to be had before this day is done."

"I'm sure they will be understanding," Zerana said with a grimace, the Daleens were known to be over protective of their offspring.

"She'll be grounded for a week."

"Two."

"You're on." Koolan said.  He flicked his gear over to infrared scan and observed one particular house.  "Ah, our little friend is awakening."

As the two were watching the colony stir into consciousness, a small light began blinking on a console inside the Chozos' home cave.

***

"Honey!  Better get up now, breakfast is almost ready."  Called a woman's voice.  "Yes mom," the nine-year-old girl mumbled back.  She cracked opened her eyes and saw her mother dial down the opacity of the phototropic window, flooding the small bedroom with rays of sunlight.  "Looks like another beautiful day, we'll be waiting for you downstairs." Said Kathy Aran, as she walked out the door.  

Samus groaned as she dragged herself out of bed, stretching off the usual aches and soreness that accompanies being in a too comfortable position for an extended period of time.  She looked out the window at the surrounding town; a cargo skiff was floating down the road towards the spaceport, probably delivering tritium fuel.  Her neighbour was already out tending his hydroponics garden, which Samus had accidentally damaged last week.  Her speeder bike's repulsor had field failed and the crash had thrown her into the garden, but Samus was lucky to escape with a few scrapes and a mild scolding.  She heard the local avians chirping and saw a six-legged scavenger dart away into the nearby forest.  It indeed looked to be shaping up to a beautiful day, so why did Samus feel a slight shiver down her back?  _Probably nothing,_ she thought while getting dressed before heading downstairs.

"Good morning sweetie," said Morgan Aran as she appeared in the kitchen, "Sleep well?"  

"Yes."

"I finished fixing your bike last night so you can ride it to school again, but no more smooshing into people's gardens alright?"

"Ooh! Thank you daddy!" Samus squealed, and hugged his neck.

"Okay," he gargled and gently pried the little arms from his collar "my you're getting strong"

Samus giggled and started attacking her breakfast like a clawcat.  Morgan poured himself some caf as Kathy placed a stack of grainbread on the table and thought this was the perfect living. The family had used to live on Earth in one of the most urbanized cities on that planet.  He had been an officer in the Federation Marine Corps, but later been transferred to Intelligence where his analytical abilities had been more valuable.  His wife, Kathy, was a biogenics researcher at the Federation's foremost research facility.  It had been a decent life; until the agency downsized him and research funding was cut for Kathy.  With the birth of their daughter, both parents yearned to be free from the oppressive environment of Earth and the Federation.  

So they had gathered their belongings and left for the outlying colony they lived in now.  Morgan worked at the colony's comm centre, receiving and transmitting information and messages, at the same time maintaining the outdated equipment so that he could perform his primary job.  Kathy took a position at the med centre, although a far cry from the facility on Earth, she is still able to help heal the sick, and that's all it's all about wasn't it? 

The proud father looked at his daughter; her tousled blonde hair drooped down to her shoulders, those bright green eyes full of excitement and intelligence.  Samus loved it here. She loved playing in the open spaces, she loved racing with friends around on her speeder bike, heck, she even loved school

Samus had finished her first slice of grainbread and was reaching for a second when the morning air was pierced by a sudden supersonic screech that caused the entire house to shudder. 

"What was that?" asked Kathy as she steadied the table.

"Probably just teenagers with a new afterburner for their airspeeder, they don't have anything better to do than be annoying and rattle a few windows, nothing to worry about." assured Morgan

The next sound they heard _was_ something to worry about.

It was the detonation of a proton bomb, and it did considerably more than rattle a few windows.  The shockwave completely shattered them, sending shards of transparisteel into the Aran's kitchen.  

"I didn't know teenagers could be this annoying!" shouted Kathy

"Me neither!"  Morgan said and picked his way to the hole where a window should be.

Looking out, he saw columns of black smoke in the direction of the spaceport and town centre. A sudden orange bloom punctuated another massive explosion that seemed to engulf the entire port.  _There go the fuel bunkers_ he thought, and then spotted a quartet of blue ships flying through the flame. Morgan yelled "Get Samus down to the subfloor now!  They're coming back this way!" Kathy had a look of panic on her face, but Samus just seemed to be irritated by the loud noise and not frightened at all.  

 "What?  Who is it? Who's attacking us?"

***

"Pirates!" gasped Koolan.

"What? Are you sure?" asked Zerana in disbelief.

Koolan readjusted his macrobinoculars and tracked the flying craft.  Indeed it was a space pirate's ship, the blue crustacean broad swept hull with laser cannons at the tips of stubby wings was unmistakable.  

"Positive," He answered, "We need to get back to the cave, they won't find us there."

"What about the colony, we can't just leave them!" Zerana said.

 "There's nothing we can do now, the ship's power cells have been dry for years," Koolan hesitated, "and you know the rules."

The pair scrambled down the tree and fled towards a hole in the ground as explosions lit up the countryside.

***

Morgan made his way to the back of the house where a display case held his commendation and other decorations.  He was frightened, _what are space pirates doing attacking a colony like this?_  But his old marine training kicked in and kept his mind cool.  _All right, Samus should be safe, time to break out the stash. _ He tapped a quick rhythm on the side of it, and a large hidden drawer slid open.  All the weapons he had ever used while in service were here.  He kept them unloaded of course but the ammunition was just in a drawer underneath.  Being on a frontier world, Morgan wanted to be prepared for anything, though this was not how he wanted to be tested.  Lifting a heavy anti-armour particle cannon, he slapped in a power pack and checked the charge.  _Four rounds, better make them count_ and ran out the door.  

Kathy had taken Samus down to the storage area of their home and situated her on the floor among plasteel containers of items the family had no use for, but did not want to get rid of.  She kissed her on the forehead said, "You stay down here, do not come up no matter what.  I will be right back." And dashed back up the stairs.

Now fearful and confused, Samus had just nodded and wrapped her arms around herself and whispered, "Come back mommy."

The four pirate fighters shrieked over the settlement, firing green pulses of coherent light as they flew.  Wherever the laser blasts hit, they melted duracrete, slagged buildings, and turned vehicles into instant funeral pyres for the occupants inside.  Morgan cringed as they strafed the nearby comm centre and reduced his workplace to a pile of scrap metal, the transmitter antennae bursting into a million fragments.  Now the colony couldn't even call for help.  He hefted the cannon onto his shoulder and braced his legs to resist its recoil.  Morgan looked through the targeting eyepiece and centred the crosshair on one of the fighters.  His heart pounded in his ears as he heard the constant tone of a target lock and pulled the trigger.  With a roar, a blue bolt leapt from the muzzle of the cannon and crossed the two hundred meters in a fraction of a second.  The projectile smashed into the underwing of a fighter, ripped a gash through the superstructure and obliterated the cockpit.  That fighter spiralled off in an un-aerodynamic decent and slamming into the ground, detonating its unused fuel and weaponry like an oversized firework.

***

Nazak had clawed back on the yoke when he saw the flash of light, breaking hard to starboard and called a warning to the rest of the flight of crab fighters. Unfortunately at least one had either grown complacent after successfully strafing the colony's spaceport or was a fool.  _A combination of both_, he thought, but took satisfaction in that the pilot would make no more mistakes.

"Rapier one, report." the comm crackled. 

"Transports and communications have been disabled, nothing will be getting off world.  We took one loss from ground fire, no energy signature was detected so it must have been personnel based." Said Nazak.  He continued his loop until he was back on the original flight path, searching the ground for the source of fire, then spotted a glint of metal in front of one of the homesteads.

"Acknowledged, Rapier flight return to the _Gilded Claw_."

"What? We can finish the job."

"Return immediately!"

"Understood." Nazak growled, he turned his fighter towards the smoky sky and headed back towards space.   

***

Morgan watched the remaining fighters loop around the colony and then punch back to space.  His moment of relief died an instant later when he saw another ship begin to descend into the atmosphere.  It was a large, blocky transport lumbering towards the ground, eager to discharge its cargo of pirate raiders.  He raised his weapon once again and fired.  The projectile impacted a meter away from the transport's hull, the ship's energy shield crackled, dissipating the shot.  Morgan fired again, and once more, but the shielding was too strong.  Both attacks flashed against the invisible bubble and no damage was done.

The transport landed and ramps immediately unfolded to disgorge the contingent of pirates inside.  What was a town of peace was now a slaughterhouse of death.  Groups of pirates ran from the ship and fired upon the shocked civilians.  With blaster rifles held in their claws, the pirates were a horrific image.  Their pointed narrow faces held no emotion and their slender sulphurous yellow eyes were cold and pitiless.  No compassion was offered, no surrenders accepted.  The stench of burning flesh filled the still air as colonists, young and old, were cut down, their bodies blasted apart by energy bolts.

"Morgan catch!" Kathy shouted.  Morgan dropped the now spent cannon, and turned to see his wife toss a pulse rifle towards him.  Catching it, he saw that it was already loaded and flicked the safety off.  Together they ducked behind the low duracrete wall in front of the house.  

"I thought you hated guns." Said Morgan, noticing a carbine in her grip.

"I do, but I hate being helpless even more," Kathy replied looking over the wall, the pirates were advancing towards them.  She aimed carefully and snapped off a shot at a hundred meters that a pirate took full in the face.  Green ichor exploded from the head of the unfortunate pirate and its body dropped lifelessly to the ground.  "Especially when our daughter's life is in danger."

"Now I remember why I don't get you angry.  Is she safe?" Morgan asked as he too opened up on the pirates.  Those with some sense dove to the ground and sought cover, the others charged towards him.  The staccato bursts of fire from Morgan echoed in the air as he stitched a pattern of deadly energy, dropping four more enemies.

"As safe as possible, I sealed the entrance pretty well but there's no telling if they may find it." Kathy fell back down as blaster bolts flashed over her head.

Morgan nodded grimly, "We can't hold out much longer, but the more we kill now, the less who will be searching later." and both rose slightly to shoot at a group of pirates off to the right.  Then his rifle locked open on an empty magazine, Kathy's weapon similarly exhausted a second later.  

Kathy pulled a pair of pistols from her waistband and handed one to her husband.  "Last stand?" 

"You bet." And gave her a quick kiss.

Together they leapt up over the wall and rushed at the green figures in a low run.  The pirates were clearly surprised by the move, and all their shots went wild.  The Aran's were much more accurate.  Kathy's two rounds burned into the torso of one pirate while Morgan dispatched another with a double tap to the head.  But that first volley was all they would get.

The crisscrossing lines of fire were bound to find a target, and Kathy took a blow to the side.  The impact spun her around, presenting a large profile that invited a torrent of fire, and blaster bolts riddled her body as she crashed to the ground.  At the same time Morgan felt an impact on his right shoulder that twisted his aim, the painful blow causing his last shot to narrowly miss the reptilian head of another pirate.  He felt another bolt enter his abdomen and a burning inferno of pain shot through his entire body.  Morgan tumbled to the ground, and the pistol dropped from his hand.  As his vision ebbed, he saw a pirate point his rifle at him, but his last conscious thought was for the safety of his daughter.

***

On the bridge of the G_ilded Claw_, the captain listened to his underlings' reports.  Minor casualties were taken but the entire colony had been ransacked. 

"Ssensorss report no unaccounted lifeformss in the colony and ssurrounding area." One of them hissed.

"Very well," The captain punched his console with a purple talon and transmitted a message into deep space, then turned to his helmsman, "I don't know why we're here but as soon as the transport is back, we leave at once."

"Yess captain Ridley."

***

            Broken pieces of debris crunched underfoot as Koolan and Zerana walked through the colony.  Zerana held a scanner showing one lifeform, but faint.  

            "Over here." She said, pointing to the blasted remains of a house.

            Together they shifted the collapsed walls and uncovered a trapdoor.  Koolan pulled a cutting tool from his belt and cut away at the edges.  Removing the hatch, he went in, and came back out holding the body of a girl.

            "She's not injured, just sleeping." Koolan said in amazement.

            "Indeed, what do we do now?"

            "I do not know.  That message we detected from the pirate frigate had a Federation encrypt on it.  There probably won't be any hope of rescue for her."

            Zerana stared at the sleeping child, so many hopes and dreams, dashed to pieces in a matter of minutes.  The Chozo had long ago decided to withdraw from the spotlight, and only observe from without and never to interfere with the dealings of the galaxy again.  But…

"There is something about this child, I can sense it in her aura." She said.

"Agreed, but can we take her in?  The Conclave would never allow it."

"The Conclave doesn't have to know."

            At that moment Samus' eyes fluttered open.  She stared at the alien faces, their dark coloured down and large blunt beaks looked particularly frightening.  

            "Shh, be not afraid little one," Zerana said soothingly, "You are among friends."


	2. Beta

_Thirteen years after the attack_

Samus sat at a table in the mess hall of the Federation cruiser _Liberty_ and stared out at the endless starfield that filled the viewport.  It was early morning when the ship left the shipyards of Chiron in the Alpha Centauri system, heading out to rendezvous with the rest of a task force and continue the arduous task of rooting out pirates.  

"You're thinking again, what is it now?" came a voice behind her.

Samus turned to see major Byran Ticks holding two mugs of caf.

"Oh nothing, I was just calculating the size of the universe is that for me?"

"You're welcome," he said, placing the mugs down on the table and taking a seat opposite of Samus, "What's your conclusion?"

"About the same dimensions as your ego."

"Wonderful, you know you're dealing with a rookie when they dish out criticism within the first week." He sighed with false weariness.  Byran was a rugged man with dark hair from the foundry world of Cuupros.  He grew up working among the blast furnaces of a manufacturing plant, the experience making him tougher than the durasteel they produced.  His height and build certainly enforced that fact.  With muscles rippling through thick arms, the man could snap a Vysalian's necks with one hand.  But his grey eyes also portrayed an intelligence nobody would ever associate with an iron worker, he was like a gentle teddy bear – well, a giant teddy bear.

Samus smiled, "I'm sorry, it's just that everyone here has this strange… manner that I've never seen in my old Marine company before," she said.

"You still have a lot to learn.  It's called professionalism." Byran said, taking a sip from his mug. "The special forces are made up of a different breed of people from the rest of the Federation military, even back in the founding.  You've been through qualification and training.  You know that the SF don't look for the best soldier, they look for the best soldier who can also think, though certain personality quirks do get issued as well.  Everywhere else, mindless fighter jocks turn big rocks into little rocks and the armoured cav crush those little rocks into even littler rocks, all with the help of expensive toys.  While the brass parade the rock conquerors around like heroes, we do the jobs that nobody else can do, with minimal equipment to boot.  And we do it in the shadows, if no one takes note of our accomplishments, then all the better."

"Its not that I don't appreciate it, I just feel overwhelmed.  Sure, I've done the most impossible tasks back at MacKall, but that was all under controlled conditions with a cadre to watch over in case we screw up.  Now that I'm asked to do it all for real outside of a training camp, it's quite daunting" Samus took a sip of her caf, and then made a face. "What did you brew this with?  Engine coolant?"

"Don't worry, you'll learn to appreciate well made caf soon enough."

"Do I want to know the caffeine concentration?" Samus asked, staring dubiously at the mug's substance.

"Probably not, now finish your medicine little girl," Byran taunted, "we're due at the firing range in ten minutes."

As Samus tried to drink the intense liquid without it burning a hole through her throat, the stars in the viewport flared into white streaks of light as the _Liberty_ jumped into hyperspace.

The two walked down the corridor of the _Liberty_ towards the range, their booted heels clunking over the duraplast deck.  She was a _Neptune_-class cruiser, classified as a carrier vessel.  Shaped like a tapering flat barge, _Liberty_ measured seven hundred meters in length from her prow to the command deck at the stern.  Not heavily armed like battleships of the same size, her belly housed dozens of hangars and launching bays carrying two full fighter wings of one hundred forty starfighters along with a number of support ships consisting of supply transports, surveillance craft, assault shuttles, landing barges and more.  The ship is a mobile garrison, able to operate independently for up to three months without re-supply, and carrying enough firepower to subdue a small continent.  Accompanying the _Liberty_ were two _Mars_-class medium cruisers; the _Karren_ and _Delindo, _and three _Ganymede-_class frigates; the _Rubicon_, _Orinoco _and_ Volga_. These escorts and the _Liberty_ herself made for an impressive battle group.  But more significantly, this battle groupis home to the most elite military units in the Federation.  The top Starfighter fighter squadrons, Marine companies, and needless to say, the Special Forces unit Samus was assigned to. 

Plainly named "_Sigma"_, the team of twelve members is one of only twenty-four in the entire Federation, each named for a letter in an ancient Earth alphabet.  The members can be drawn from any branch of the Federation government, but mainly the military divisions, as it is rare for a team to find a situation that would require the use of an experienced accountant.  There is no discrimination in selection, so long as the individual meets the physical and intellectual requirements.  

"So how did you end up with us anyway?" Byran asked as they entered the range, two other Sigma members were already there, prepping their equipment.  Samus shrugged, "I had gotten into a slight argument with my previous commanding officer as a Marine, and he tried to wash me out by signing me up for SF."

One of the men looked up "_Slight_ argument? Ha! Samus here basically made a complete fool out of Major Watters, pointed out some holes in his attack plan you could fly a Jupiter through."

"I just said it needed some work and gave him a suggestion."

"Not in front of the entire squad, and certainly not just as you are about to deploy from the dropship."

"I only finished thinking it through then, and how do you know all about that?"

The man smiled, and extended his hand. "Lieutenant Dack Lanner, computer specialist."

Samus took it, "You've read my personnel files," she said.

"That's correct."

"Those are supposed to be private."

"Well I'm just practicing, besides, don't you feel less awkward not having to introduce yourself?"

The other team member stepped over and shot Dack a _shut-up-before-she-slaps-you_ look and said to Samus "Do excuse him, apparently we also recruit out of a local children's crèche.  Lieutenant Zepp Ebon, engineering, that means I can also build things in addition to blowing them up" and offered his hand as well.

"Alright people, it looks like we're the only ones going to do some practicing right now, so lock down the door.  Since Samus here is also our new weapons specialist we'll do a level five pistol run, whoever can out shoot her, she buys a drink." Byran said.

"What? I never agreed to that." Samus said.

"It's the unwritten rule.  Makes you have to keep up your skills or suffer the drunken antics of someone like Dack here."

"Hey, I resent that!" Dack called.

Samus just smiled at the exchange and picked up a P-51 blaster pistol, the standard sidearm issued to the SF.  Byran fiddled with the range's control console, and the long room lit up.  All four team members lined themselves up and placed their weapon in a holster.  A moment later, holographic images of a space pirate shimmered into Samus' view for an instant fifteen meters away, then, disappeared just as quickly.  But in that instant, she brought her pistol up from her side, her left hand joining her right to assume a proper grip and pulled the trigger twice in a smooth motion.

All four holograms reappeared in front of their respective shooters.  Both Dack and Byran's target showed a hole in the thorax and skull while Zepp's had two holes in the skull.  Everyone then looked at Samus' pirate, which showed one single, slightly irregular, hole between the yellow eyes, even though she had fired two shots.

_Just like they taught me_, Samus thought, then said to the others "So does anyone buy me a drink?"


	3. Gamma

They continued the rest of the exercise in silence; only the sharp bursts emitted from each round of fire punctured the air.  In the end Samus established her place in the team, beating everyone by at least ten points.  

"I almost had that last one, but my hands wouldn't stay straight." She complained, safeing her weapon and ejecting its power pack.  "You fed me that caf deliberately."

Byran nodded, "A simple way to simulate mission stress and anxiety without actually trying to put holes in you."  He looked over the results. "Not that it affected you that much, besides it's the fuel for us on missions, best you get used to its effects now."

"You're just too modest Sammy." Dack chimed in, "You know I could make the scores show I shot better than you, but who would believe it?  Anyway, since we are still technically off duty for the rest of the day, I'm going to the mess for a pint.  Too bad it's going on my tab." 

"I'll join you, might as well stock up while we can." Zepp said and the two walked out of the firing range, the doors hissing open and close as they passed through.

"You did very well, I would trust you at my back any day," Byran said to Samus "I'm sure the rest of the team would agree too."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it.  When do you think we'll be deployed?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, even the executive officer doesn't get to know plans in ahead.  But it'll take a week to reach the Delphinus sector so we will be briefed in by then.  Anyway commander Malkovich wants me to go help inspect our new equipment, and put together a full report." He sighed, "Enjoy the rest of the day, I'll see you at tomorrow morning's PT exercise" With a wave, the big major strolled out, not very eager to perform his next duty as master accountant.

Currently not having any duties herself, Samus queried the computer for a vacant training room and headed out in that direction.  As state-of-the-art holo technology was, it still couldn't mimic the solidness of something real so robots were used for training. Being of a heavy build herself like the XO, Samus wanted to make sure she could not only shoot well, but that she could hold her own against enemies even unarmed.

The particular room Samus entered was of a rocky cave setting. Stalagmites poked up from the floor that was pitted with uneven dips and slopes. The low ceiling also had pointy stalactites just waiting for someone to swing their head into.  Throw in low-level lighting and a horrible place to fight was made.

_Perfect_.

Samus sealed the door and activated the program for the highest difficulty level allowable and increased gravity to one point two standard. At the far end of the room, the pirate droid came to life.  A fairly good imitation, the designers made it as close to the real thing, right down to the sharp claws at the end of its arms.  

Anyone else would normally have worn a plasteel vest or some sort of protection, but it was more real to Samus to be dressed only in a light jumpsuit.  _Real pirates wouldn't wait around for me to get ready and make it a fair fight_ she thought darkly. 

The pirate charged at her, sweeping one arm across that would have severed Samus' head from her neck.  But that's only if she had just stood still.  Samus dropped down and lashed out her right leg in a sweep that knocked it to the ground.  She quickly hopped over the fallen droid and assumed a combat stance as it came back to its feet.  This time she allowed the droid to close in, but shifted her body to avoid its slashes, letting those strikes hit nothing but air.  Samus countered with a lightning punch to its thorax, then ducked to dodge another slash, and delivered an uppercut that rocked the pirate back a few steps.  The pirate threw a kick which Samus easily blocked, but allowed its backhand to send her off balance and to the ground.  She rolled hastily but was a hair too slow and the edge of the descending pirate claw grazed her shoulder.  It easily sliced through the thin fabric and opened a cut that leaked blood as Samus regained her footing. The sudden pain angered her more as she ignored the wound and ducked behind a pillar that bore the brunt of the pirate's attack.  

Slipping around another stalagmite she lured the pirate into attacking again, and this time its claw got jammed in the stone formation.  Jumping up and grabbing a hold of a crevice in the roof, Samus swung over and behind the trapped pirate, and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick that snapped the arm free and sending the poor droid trailing sparks and wires into the cavern wall.  It staggered back, clearly disoriented, to see Samus lower her good shoulder and charge into it with her ninety-kilogram mass in a devastating tackle.  The droid smashed into the ground and did not move save a few lingering sparks.  

Samus was breathing and sweating heavily by now and her shoulder still stung from the wound she received, but she felt certain elation from vanquishing another foe, even if it was a simulation.  No physical pain could ever equal the pirate attack that destroyed her life as a child; it was Samus' goal to avenge that brutal and callous attack on that defenceless colony of innocents.  It wasn't as if her foster parents had discouraged her against it either.  She patched her shoulder up with the room's medkit and left for her quarters, first leaving a message for maintenance that the droid needed repairs, looking forward to a refreshing shower.


	4. Delta

Samus finished towelling off her blonde shoulder length hair and dressed in a comfortable robe before settling down to her quarter's computer terminal.  While waiting for it to log into the ship's communications relays, she picked up a holo of her foster parents. It activated and a ghostly image floated in the air, showing two adult humans and herself as a young girl.  She then adjusted her grip into a very awkward configuration, and the humans' image shimmered into those of Chozo.  It was 'different' to say the least, living with parents who were of a species that don't exist anymore.  Samus chuckled at herself; she had punched Zerana in the beak out of fright when the motherly Chozo tried to comfort her that dreadful morning.  The couple had gathered whatever material from the Aran household that was still intact, and whisked Samus away from the ruined colony, implicitly adopting her as their own child.  

For the next seven years, Samus travelled the galaxy with them in their ship that was disguised as a light freighter.  The Chozo themselves used synthflesh coverings and holoshrouds to make themselves appear human while visiting populated areas. They would set down on a planet and take Samus exploring the various cities and communities, training her observational skills and the ways of the galaxy.  Soon Samus could navigate herself through the streets and back alleys without difficulty despite her age.  On long trips between planets, Koolan instructed her in technical and problem solving skills. It was amazing what Samus learned from them, more skills and knowledge, some that one could never learn from any education institute.  If there was something both Chozo focused their teachings on, it was for survival.  

_"Surviving means being able to identify the situation you are in, to take stock of the resources at your disposal, and to make use of them in the most efficient manner."_ Zerana had said. They had taken Samus to a frontier planet at thirteen, and camped out in the wilderness for six months with minimal equipment.  That was when Samus learned to hunt…

A chirping noise from the computer terminal interrupted her reminiscence, signalling the reception of a new message.  Samus put down the holo back on her desk and brought up the letter, then stifled a gasp of surprise.

_"Dear Samus.  Congratulations on your new posting, the Special Forces should be a new challenge for you to undertake.  We are very proud of you and wish you luck and good fortune in the future.  As always, be aware of your surroundings, and remember what you have learned.  We will try to keep as much contact with you as possible, but know that our love for you will never diminish with space or time._

_With blessings, Koolan and Zerana_

_P.S. There should be a package of those… cho-ko-late chip…cookies that you love so much dropped off at your door at the same time this message is received.  Don't eat them all at once; the ingredients are quite hard to come by._

Samus heard a muffled 'thump' from outside and got up to open her door.  Sure enough, a small plasteel container had been unloaded by a service droid as it rolled down the corridor.  She smiled and shook her head in amazement as she took the package inside and cracked the cover; even after so many years, the Chozo never failed to surprise her. Samus had wondered why it took inordinate time for that message to appear on her terminal, the computer must have been waiting for the droid to get into position to bring her this delicacy.  She munched on one of the cookies and allowed the sweet sensation to ripple across her tongue; perhaps this was one way her foster parents were trying to compensate her for having to leave.  

Immediately after rescuing Samus, the Chozo transmitted the report of K-2L's unfortunate end and requested a break from their duties.  Apparently the Chozo Conclave thought highly of Koolan and Zerana and granted them seven years.  When their vacation ended, Samus was sixteen and was eligible for entry into the Olympus Grand Academy of Earth where she would be able to continue her studies. So a false background was forged, stories memorized and a tearful farewell was bidden.  The Chozo promised to stay in touch with her as much as possible and gave her an emergency comm frequency to transmit on, but warned that real contact will be impossible in the future.  Their relationship with Samus had to be kept hidden from both the Federation, and the Conclave.  This need for secrecy meant that only short messages (and perhaps lines of computer code needed to reprogram a certain service droid) could be exchanged and infrequently to reduce the chance of being tracked.  Samus understood the necessity, they couldn't stay on vacation forever, but it still felt to her deep down that she had once again been orphaned.

Life for Samus at the Academy wasn't exactly fun either.  After gallivanting around the galaxy, she couldn't stand studying from a datapad or even books from the old archives.  Other students on the campus were only concerned with scrabbling for marks and hounding professors for an extra decimal point.  Not being able to spew forth jargon and terminology from five different sources was viewed as intellectual poverty.  Samus saw it all as a giant hot air factory. _What point is it to know all this stuff if you don't use it in the real world?_ She had wondered. So when a recruiter for the Federation Star Marine Corps showed up at the end of the year, she signed up immediately.

Although technically a year younger than the minimum age, Samus proved her skill and determination to the recruiter who agreed to accept her.  Another year after training, Samus was deployed on her first mission, and now she was part of the elite of elites.  She was doing something useful that those dataheads could never… 

Samus' thoughts came to another halt.  She frowned, as her teeth seemed to encounter a foreign object within the cookie.  She extracted a small orb; the size of one of the chocolate chips, furrowed her brow in puzzlement, and then noticed the letter continued.  She scrolled another line and read, 

_"P.P.S It was Zerana's idea to plant a stun capsule in the first cookie to see if you still are attentive.  Hope you managed to find it, if not then the numbness will wear off in another hour. The rest of them are safe to enjoy._

Samus chuckled and got to her feet; Chozo were ever vigilant. Thinking it might be a good time to meet the rest of her squadmates, she put the container under her arm and headed towards the Sigma lounge.

*** 

Sitting in an office of an underground building, a man punched at his console, typing out orders.  He checked his large hologram of the galaxy, zooming in on different sectors, examining various deployments and judging distances.  Satisfied with the result, he finalized the orders and downloaded them to a datacard. _Two weeks, the timing should be perfect._ He then called his secretary.

"Lena, go run this down to communications and have them transmit it on encrypt derra four." he said, handing her the datacard.  "Yes sir."  She replied, taking the card and walked out the door.

_            Shes a bit dull and slow witted, but competent and loyal enough,_ the man thought as he brushed at his general's rank insignia and turned back to work.


	5. Epsilon

Sorry I haven't updated in some time. Been playing Metroid Prime and went back to make some minor changes so it matches up at least somewhat with the Nintendo line.  I also feel like im straying from the metroid path and that this is starting to turn into some other story.  It's going slow right now but hopefully I'll be able to steer this back in the direction it should be.

            "Quick time – _march_!"

            And with that command from Major Byran Ticks, Sigma team slowed down from their eight-kilometer morning run to a brisk one-hundred-twenty steps per minute walk.  Another thirty seconds after that he called, "Detail… _halt_!" and everyone came to a stop and tried not to breathe too heavily.  Each member of the team welcomed the end, but none dared to voice that thought for fear of being seen as weak.  The commander stepped out in front of his troopers.  Even approaching middle age his steely form radiated an intensity that his aristocratic features belayed and looked as if he had just finished reading a book rather than a gruelling run  "An admirable performance everyone.  Hit the hygienic facilities and report to briefing room echo three within fifteen minutes.  _Fall out_!"

            Samus followed the others out of the hangar bay where they had been running.  Space was a premium, even aboard a ship the size of the _Liberty_.  And so exercises meant running laps in one of the great cavernous hangar bays, made all the more interesting when a tech spills some lubricating fluid or dodging underneath a taxiing starfighter.  After another quick shower, she joined the team in a small amphitheatre briefing room.

"I am commander Adam Malkovich, you are Sigma team.  Is anyone in the wrong place?" There were a few chuckles as some feigned surprise and started to get up out of their seats.  "Good.  Now I'm only going to go through this once so do pay attention.  First we have a new member, please welcome lieutenant Samus Aran."  She stood up and saluted. "Thank you sir!"  He returned the salute and gestured for her to take her seat and continued.  "Samus comes to us from the 31st Reynold Star Marines where she served with distinction for the past year.  She also comes with equipped with the Azeroth Cross, for extreme skill and courage under fire when she ambushed and defeated a pirate raiding party on her own out on Karnataka III after being separated from her battalion."  Samus blushed and waved away the approving looks and whistles from the team.  Although official reports said she got broken off due to communications error; that was not the truth.  "Anyway," Adam continued, "Our operational doctrine has us falling under the authority of Intelligence and general orders come from them.  However we also work with the command of this task force and are authorized to deviate from original orders on condition that the overall objective remains unchanged."  He looked towards Samus, the black eyes seeming to drill straight through her emerald ones and examine the brain underneath.  "Translation: We do what we can in the interests and safety of the Galactic Federation and all it represents."

Samus allowed herself a small smile.  This was the job she was looking forward to for most her life.  No longer would she just be a grunt in the field, she could operate independently without being restrained.  Free to do whatever it takes in protecting the innocents of the Federation, and kick pirate butt at the same time.

"So what exactly are we going to be doing?" the commander continued as a hologram of space appeared in front of him. "One week ago the supply depot at Rigel was attacked by a pirate raiding force.  They managed to fight through our defences to hijack four tritium supertankers and escape.  Luckily, a damaged corvette managed to record a few of their hyperspace trajectories which we triangulated to somewhere here in the Delphinus sector."  The hologram zoomed in to show that particular region of space.

Zepp's hand rose.  Adam pointed at him and nodded, "Yes?"

"Sir, do we know how they managed to take all the tankers?  He asked.  "I thought the security lockdowns would have immobilized the ships.  You know, to prevent something like this."

"We don't know how they managed to bypass the lockdown, but that's not important to us right now." Adam answered.  "That fuel represented a full month's worth of operations to the fifth and seventh fleets and it may be two weeks at least to replenish those groups.  We've diverted patrols to stand in temporarily, but five whole sectors are dangerously under defended." 

Samus knew that tritium was the primary fuel that fed into almost every Federation starship's quantum chamber power plants, which in powered every principal system.  Once the bunkers run dry; propulsion, shields, weapons, communications even life support would be forced to shutdown.  Auxiliary generators may be able to power two or maybe three of those systems, but the ships would be sitting waterfowl if attacked by pirates.

 "Our job is to find out where that fuel went and get it back if possible, as most likely the pirate would try to sell it."  He gestured to the holo and a series of planets were highlighted.  "This sector is outside official Federation space and populated mainly by fringers and other unsavoury folk, just the sort of people who would do business with pirates.  We will divide into half squads and visit each of these places and find out what we can.  The rest of the battle group will be conducting exercises in between systems but are ready to assist us if we find anything.  I will be Sigma one and will lead the first group with Jarnus as two…" 

Samus listened and filed away each of the first half-squad's names.  _What could the pirates be doing with so much fuel?_ She thought.  It could be possible that they would just stash them where their headquarters were and thus be set for perhaps a year's worth of operations, they didn't have all that many ships anyway.  The commander had mentioned selling, but hauling around four supertankers would not be a subtle thing and the space pirates themselves would be vulnerable to theft from the more "conventional" pirates out there.

"Leading the second group is major Byran Ticks as seven.  Eight is Kylie Sorna," a silky human female, her silver hair cut short and spiked out such that Samus wondered if they would be lethal. "Zepp, Dakk, you two jokers are nine and ten."  The two she had met from the firing range nodded their acknowledgment.  "Eleven is…" Adam frowned and made a few gargling noises, then said "My apologies, I still can't pronounce your name.  But she is satisfied with _Kitty._" Eleven's nickname would be quite apt for a human.  She was a humanoid female whose features were quite similar to the feline _domesticus _that roamed Earth.  Her eyes had the same vertical arrangement and even her ears twitched once in a while.  "I told you the first time I met you that the human tongue is incapable of our language," She said with a smile in surprisingly unaccented Basic.  "Well I will prove that false someday," he replied "And finally Samus, you're Sigma twelve."

"Now before we finish, there is still something we must do.  Lady Aran, will you please step up."  Puzzled, Samus got to her feet and walked up in front of the lectern. "I would now like to officially welcome you into the team.  Though you have not gone on any missions yet, your performance during training is exemplary.  As is your sense of bribery." Samus looked even more confused. "All of us agree that those cookies were the most delicious ever, and also hate you now because there is no more left.  For that, here is your punishment."

            Adam stepped over to her pulled a small wooden box from his pocket and withdrew a black rod with a round plate on one end.  He pressed the plate against her left shoulder and pressed a recessed button.  There was a small sensation of heat and then he pulled it back.  

"This is the sigma crest.  You now bear our unit's symbol, may it be a source of pride for you to accept this honour."  Samus pulled up the sleeve of her jumpsuit and saw that where there had been unmarked skin, a stylized **S** in the shape of a lightning bolt was emblazoned upon a circle of black.


End file.
